68 Lawyers with fake degrees, over 15,000 law degrees unverified: Bar Council of Delhi writes to BCI [Read Letters]

The Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) recently took note of 68 cases where the law degrees obtained by lawyers on its rolls appeared to be fake. By a letter dated October 22, 2019, the BCD has also submitted details of the advocates with fake law degrees to the Secretary, Bar Council of India (BCI)..The BCD had earlier issued show-cause notices to the respective lawyers, informing them about reports received from the respective Universities on the authenticity of their law degrees. This was done to provide an opportunity for those advocates to submit records contrary to the reports provided by the respective Universities. On verification, if such cases are found to be genuine, the same may be segregated and not be sent to the BCI for further action..In addition to issuance to show cause notice, complaints have also been filed with the Hauz Khas Police Station, New Delhi for lodging FIRs and further action. As of now, there are 37 cases pending at the stage of show cause notice and 6 cases have been sent for re-verification..As per the October 22 letter, the concerned advocates have not been able to furnish any satisfactory response to dispute the reports from the Universities. The Bar Council of Delhi has observed that while some of the law certificates were forged, the others had discrepancies in the mark sheets and in the overall pass/fail result. All of these cases have now been referred to BCI for the removal of their names from the roll of Bar Council, in the exercise of the proviso to section 26(1) of the Advocates Act, 1961 and Chapter VII of the Bar Council of India Rules..Additionally, in another letter dated October 22, the BCD has notified the BCI of the failure on the part of Universities to submit verification reports of law degrees issued by them. In this regard, the BCD points to 15,930 law degrees that have not been verified by 37 Universities, despite repeated reminders by the BCD. Owing to the lethargic and uncooperative attitude of these Universities, the BCD has been unable to segregate the fake/invalid law degrees, the letter states. A detailed list of such Universities has been enclosed in the letter to the BCI..The letter also intimates that a final window of opportunity had been given to these Universities vide a letter on September 30, 2019, informing them that they were being given a time frame of 15 days to submit the verification report. It was mentioned that the non-submission of the verification report would result in the de-recognition of the respective University as well..A total of 30,781 law degrees were sent to the Universities for verification and 14,851 law degrees were verified and received by the BCD. The remaining 15,930 law degrees are yet to be verified..Due to the non-compliance of on the part of these Universities, the matter has now been referred to the BCI for further action..[Read the BCD letter regarding fake law degrees here].[Read the BCD letter regarding non-verification of law degrees by Universities here]